Of course, you can argue that some of that is due to how unpredictable the early season has already proven to be.

Strange factoid: Georgia is the only SEC team LSU hasn’t defeated under coach Les Miles.

We pondered the blatant personal foul rule after that questionable call against Reshad Jones in the OSU game, but it takes the GPOOE™ to catch Dennis Dodd’s interest.

Tony Barnhart says the schedule will do in Boise State’s national title chances. I agree that it should, but still think the screaming will be more intense than ever if two one-loss teams play in the BCS title game ahead of an undefeated BSU squad.

So Charlie Weis tells us that “NFL people” swooned over Jimmy Clausen battling turf toe in the Fighting Irish’s epic win over Purdue (“Good to see a quarterback with some guts”). Wonder what those unnamed sources thought about Baylor’s Robert Griffin playing most of the first half with a torn ACL that put him out for the rest of the season.

13 responses to “Tuesday morning buffet”

Does the coach’s poll today even matter when it comes to the end of the year?

If Iowa continues to win they will be ranked ahead of Penn St. Always happens.

While I like the Mumme Poll, in the end it gave us the same winner as the other polls last year. And the end, most times there really isn’t much to complain about that the pollsters could help.

We continue to bitch and complain about things like 2004, as if the guys voting knew damn well OU was gonna get their behinds kicked and Auburn was the better team before the bowls were played, and there was just nothing in conclusive in the evidence to point to that. Auburn played one of the weakest OOC schedules in the country that year.

To answer your question, it matters if it exposes something about the flawed methodology behind the vote.

I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see wide variations in the MP results from the CP results, at least at the top, because in most seasons it’s pretty apparent which teams are the best. But as I mentioned to somebody else today, it sure would have been interesting to see what the Mumme Poll would have done with the last regular season ballot of 2007.

Besides, the point to the MP isn’t to generate a different result. It’s to prove that there’s a better way to create a credible poll vote by eliminating the elements of bias/conflict of interest that are a shortcoming in the CP.

The Tebow hit was not dirty. Baby Rhino Jesus wasn’t even blindsided. He was only concussed because he landed on his teammate’s knee. The rule is to prevent a player that is helpless (i.e., a wide receiver running head first into oncoming traffic) from getting purposefully dismantled with a head-first shot. That rule is actually pretty easy to interpret.

Yeah, Dodd is literally the first person I’ve even heard suggest that it wasn’t a legal hit. That was a great, great hit. If Florida doesn’t want Tebow to get hurt there, they need to pick up the blitz, not consult the rule book (not saying that they’re doing that-only Dodd seems to be).

It wasn’t even a blitz, which is the one aspect of the hit that I haven’t seen anybody (media or blogger) address. What the hell was the Florida LT, Matt Patchan, doing? Wyndham didn’t come out of nowhere. He lined up on the line of scrimmage, in a slant-end technique just outside of Patchan. Instead of cupping backward to pass block Wyndham, Patchan blocked down toward the center, double-teaming with the LG on the DT. I suppose Patchan must have thought there was a running back behind him to protect Tebow, but the Gators had 5 wide, with no one in the backfield except Tebow in the gun. This was not a stunt from the Kentucky defense. Just a totally blown blocking scheme. In setting up the telestrated replay, Bob Davie said, “Florida has 1-2-3-4-5 blockers, and Kentucky’s gonna send 1-2-3-4-5-6 guys.” In reality, only 4 UK defenders rushed. Patchan simply ignored Wyndham, giving him the free shot on Tebow. I’d want to know if Patchan is sick of Tebow being so perfect all the time, or maybe Patchan’s girlfriend has a crush on St. Timothy. There is no question the hit was legal. The real question is why Patchan so blatantly left Tebow out to dry.

Dodd is awful. In his first column, he suggests that the hit was unclear and that reasonable people might conclude the hit was illegal. In his second column, he skips right ahead to declaring the hit a helmet to helmet, illegal hit. In a few days, he’ll be reporting that Taylor Wyndham used a lead pipe to brain Tebow.

Best part of the article:
“There is a huge difference this time, even if you hate the Gators. The No. 1 team is involved. For the first time, Tebow is down with a significant injury. [He played on after breaking his hand two years ago.] ”
Move over Barrack. Has anyone verified Tebow’s birth certificate?